Peter's Choice
by darciewritestoo
Summary: Peter realizes he actually likes Riley and they get together, but he can't bring himself to break up with Mia. Peter/Riley obviously.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: Peter realizes he actually likes Riley and they get together, but Peter can't bring himself to break up with Mia. **

**Enjoy.**

o O o O o O o O o

Peter wasn't sure how this had happened and as far as he was concerned, it was all Riley's fault. Riley had come along and kissed him and made him all confused. Peter, of course, made sure Riley knew he was straight by flaunting his relationship with Mia around Degrassi and Riley pretended to be straight by "dating" Anya. Throughout it all, Peter kept thinking about Riley and that kiss.

One evening, Peter was waiting for Mia at the Dot when his cell phone rang. He looked at the caller ID and saw it was his girlfriend.

He answered. "Hey, Mia, what's up?"

"Peter, I'm so sorry, Isabella's sick. Can I take a rain check on our date?"

Peter sighed. What could he do? "Sure, fine. Hope she feels better."

When he hung up, he put a tip for Spinner on the table and rose from his seat. Just as he got up, Riley Stavros walked through the door. Peter didn't completely freeze or anything; he and Riley were still friends. He had comforted Riley after he'd had, well, issues and Riley hadn't pushed him away. So they were on good terms. But even though he didn't show it, Peter still felt awkward. He wasn't sure why.

He walked over to Riley, who stood at the counter. "Hey, man."

Riley gave him a slight smile. "What's up?"

"Nothing. Had a date with Mia but she cancelled." Peter said. He felt kind of guilty mentioning Mia around him, but everything was cool with Riley now, right?

"Bummer. I'm just getting food to go." Riley replied. He was silent for a few seconds and then looked back at Peter. "Hey, if you're not doing anything, we could hang out. Play video games or something. Nothing weird this time, I swear."

_Weird? Oh, yeah the kiss_, thought Peter. "Sure. We can go to my place."

They walked to Peter's apartment quietly, occasionally making comments about a few random things and classes. Peter wasn't sure what he could and couldn't say to Riley anymore. It seemed okay to talk about the gay thing with Riley on a limited basis, but Riley didn't like talking about it in general.

Jeez. Guys were just as complicated as girls.

When they got to the apartment, Riley immediately suggested they pay something _other_ than boxing. They decided on a race car game that Peter hardly ever played. Safe choice. It involved no physical contact.

Of course, Riley beat Peter at that too, just like boxing. He also beat him at every other sport that Peter had a video game of.

Finally, Peter collapsed on his couch. "Man. How did you get so _good_ at everything?"

"Lots of practice." Riley said. "Do you have anything to drink?"

Peter looked at him. "Sure. Water okay?"

Riley laughed. "Yeah, that's fine."

Peter got up and went out to the kitchen, got two glasses, and filled them up with water. Then he opened the fridge to see if he had anything good they could eat. Just then the phone rang in the other room. "Hey, Riley, can you get that?" Peter called.

"Sure!"

A few seconds later, Riley walked in and handed the phone to Peter. "It's your dad."

Already annoyed, Peter took the phone. "Hello?"

"Who was that guy?" Peter's dad's voice sounded curious... and suspicious for some reason.

"My friend. What's up?"

"Well," Peter's dad said. "I have an appointment that just came up tomorrow-"

"I can't watch Angel tomorrow." Peter interrupted. "I have school." He had already watched Angel at school, and while he loved his sister, it wasn't an ideal situation.

"No, I know." his dad said. "I put her in a new daycare. But I just need to know the songs you sang her when you watched her. She slept during her nap when you watched her, but won't for anyone else."

"Oh." Peter quickly told him and then told his dad he had to get off the phone. When he hung up, he noticed that Riley had been looking at him the whole time. "What?"

"I thought you said your dad wasn't involved." Riley said. He didn't look accusing or anything, just sort of confused.

Wow. Riley had actually been listening when Peter told him that? Peter wasn't used to telling people things and have them listen. He didn't even feel like he could tell Mia things like that. They usually talked about her modeling, Isabella, or something else about _her_. Not him.

"He's pretty much not." Peter told him, handing him one of the glasses of water. "After, uh, everything, he started asking me to babysit my half-sister Angel a lot. But he doesn't really care about my life."

Riley looked at him sadly, but put on a smile. "Well, he doesn't know what he's missing. To think he could be kicking your ass at video games."

Peter had a weird feeling. He wanted to keep talking to Riley about this stuff, but he wasn't sure if Riley wanted to hear about it. Why would he? The guy had his own problems to deal with.

"More video games?" he finally asked. Better go the safe route and not talk about his problems.

"Sure." Riley replied, almost seeming reluctant now.

_Ookay_, thought Peter as the two boys walked back into the other room. As Peter found a game they hadn't played and moved toward putting it in, Riley suddenly spoke up.

"You know how I was on steroids? And how I punched Sav because of it?"

Peter looked up at him. "Yeah."

"It was probably the worst thing I've ever done. And I can't get over how... like, I'm a bad person for it or something."

"You're not." Peter said immediately. "Look," he said, sitting next to Riley. "I used to do stuff. Like, bad stuff."

"_You_?!" Riley was obviously surprised. "No way. Like what?"

"It was before you were around, but I did a lot. One time I took a video of this drunk girl flashing her boobs and showed it to the school." Peter wasn't bragging or anything. He was ashamed of these things now, but he wanted to Riley to know his past. He wanted the guy to know who he really was. "And then I dated her best friend. And the girl I was dating, I raced her ex with a car and hit a guy. And then I put drugs in her ex's locker and got him kicked out of school."

"Wow, man." Riley said. "Why did you do that?"

"I guess I wanted attention or something." Peter shrugged. "I'm not proud of it. It's just that my parents were always absorbed in their own stuff. My dad didn't care, and my mom, she's great, but she can be a workaholic sometimes too. Anyway, I'm done with that stuff. Sorry if that freaked you out."

"No," Riley replied, looking at him with a smile. "I get why you did it. If I had that kind of home life I don't know what I'd do. I'd probably do something to get attention too. Probably not something having to do with boobs..." He laughed nervously.

"No, probably not." Peter agreed, laughing too. "Hey, do you wanna, like, talk about that? Did you sort it out?"

"I don't know if it'll ever be sorted out." Riley said. "But I've been talking to this camp friend of mine. He's gay, and at camp we sort of... you know. I've been meeting up with him." He looked away, probably embarrassed.

Peter felt a stab of... something. He wasn't sure what he felt. But, what the hell, a _camp friend_? He knew nothing about the guy and already was indifferent toward him. Riley deserved better. Someone he saw every day. Someone like...

"Something wrong?"

Peter looked up at his friend. "No. What? Nothing's wrong."

Something was _definitely_ wrong. Wrong with him.

"Why did you kiss me?" Peter blurted out. "What made you like me and think I was interested?"

"Whoa." Riley said, his eyes widening. "I thought you were over-"

"Just answer. I deserve to know."

Riley scratched the back of his head. "Well, like, you wanted to spend all that time with me. And it wasn't just that, just the way you looked at me. Plus you're cute."

Peter's face heated up. "That's it?"

"Well, I like talkin' to you about stuff. You get me."

_You get me too_, Peter thought. That was the scary part. Riley _did_ get him. Did any of the girls he dated ever get him? Emma? Definitely not. Darcy? She had her own stuff going on. Plus she'd gone to Africa. Mia? She was always nagging him. There was no doubt he was attracted to the girls he'd dated, but did they _get_ him? No.

So the non-physical attraction was there with Riley. Was the physical attraction there? He looked at Riley, studied him. There was no doubt that Riley was attractive for a guy. But did he attract Peter? Peter wasn't sure how to go about this question because he wasn't gay? He didn't even think he was bi. But if there was one person he would "go gay" for, would it be Riley?

"Screw it." he finally said.

"What?" Riley looked directly at him now. Questioning eyes that Peter couldn't help staring into.

Before he could chicken out, Peter leaned in and placed his lips on Riley's.


	2. Chapter 2

"What are you doing?!" Riley exclaimed as soon as it happened. He jumped back as if Peter had motioned to hit him.

What was he doing? That was a good question. Peter had absolutely no idea what he was doing. "Uh, don't _you_ know?" Riley was the gay one, after all.

"I know what you're doing, but do you know what you're doing?" Riley asked. "It's the thing you freaked out at me for doing to _you_."

"Okay, sorry." Peter said, standing up. God, he was an idiot. What had he been thinking? He didn't even know what he wanted, but had just gone and kissed Riley. Plus there was the fact that he had a gorgeous model girlfriend. Who would want to risk that for some dude he didn't even know if he liked?

To his surprise, Riley stood up too. "No, I'm sorry for freaking out. It's just one minute you're showing everyone just how straight you are by making out with Mia, then you're kissing me? It doesn't make sense, man. You can't mess with people like that. That's one thing I learned from 'dating' Anya. Maybe I should go."

Peter didn't protest. He couldn't. He stood there watching Riley as he got his jacket and walked out the door. When he was gone, Peter began to pick up his video game stuff. He was so distracted though. What the hell was wrong with him? He had never had this problem before. He wasn't gay. He wasn't bi as far as he knew. But he _had_ wanted to kiss Riley. He still did, kinda.

After a few minutes, he decided to grab a snack when his doorbell rang. Wondering who it could be, he went to the front door and opened it.

Riley. He looked more confused than Peter felt.

"Uh, hi." Peter said. He had no idea what to say. "Forget something?"

"I don't know." Riley said, looking around the room nervously. "Can I come in?"

Peter let him in and closed the door. "What's up?"

Riley turned to him. "You kissed me, I left, I came back, and you ask me_ what's up_? Seriously?"

"Well, yeah." What else could he say?

Riley faced him. "_Were_ you messing with me? Just to see what I'd do? Or was that...um..."

"Kiss." Peter stated for him. Guess Riley _wasn't_ that comfortable with being gay yet. "Dude, I wasn't messing with you."

Riley nodded and then asked. "So... maybe we should try this again."

Peter nodded, now prepared for what was coming. He stepped closer to the other boy, nervous but feeling alright at the same time. Riley leaned in and for the second time that evening, their lips touched. This time, neither of them pulled away. Actually, Riley pulled Peter more _toward_ him. And it was _awesome_.

o O o O o O o O o

School the next day was more awkward for Peter than the day after Riley had kissed him for the first time. He did his best to avoid both Riley and Mia until lunch. He had to think everything over.

So. He and Riley had made out last night. A lot. They hadn't done anything else because Riley did have to get home, but they had kissed a lot. It kept playing through Peter's head the whole morning. The feeling of competition was definitely there, which hadn't been there with the girls he had dated. It was different, a good different. Something about it was really appealing to him. It had been fun, but that wasn't all it was. It was kind of sexy. He wasn't sure if he'd get that with other guys or just Riley. It was funny, because when Peter looked at other guys, he couldn't imagine kissing them. But just looking at Riley made Peter feel hot now. He wanted to kiss him _more_.

When his last class before lunch ended, Peter made his way to his locker. If he could go to his locker quickly and then slip away, maybe he wouldn't run into-

"Hey, Peter."

Peter turned away from his locker to face Mia. He couldn't help but give her a smile. She _was_ hot, he couldn't deny that. He leaned over to give her a kiss on the cheek. "Hey, is Bella feeling any better?"

"Yeah, she just caught a stomach bug. But she seems better now." Mia replied. "So what did you do instead of our date? Anything fun?"

"I played video games at myself with Riley." Peter said. At least that was partially the truth. He didn't really want to lie, he just figured that telling Mia that he'd made out with a male football player would probably make her angry.

Mia grinned at him. "See, you're great. Despite everything you're still friends with him and you're there for him."

"Heh, yeah." Peter replied quietly. "So are we having lunch?"

"Definitely." Mia replied with that grin still on her face.

Peter shut his locker and Mia slipped her hand into his. He contemplated taking his hand away but wasn't sure how she'd react to that. But... what if Riley saw?

When they walked into the cafeteria and immediately Riley looked up at Peter from his own table. Riley's eyes fell to Peter and Mia's hands, and Peter looked away guiltily, pointing out a table to sit at that was far away from Riley. He knew he'd pay for it later.

Sure enough, after lunch, he went to his locker and found a note on the inside.

_Meet me outside after school?_

_R_

After school was usually when Peter practiced with STUDZ. For the first time, he couldn't decide which was more important. Should he meet up with the guy he hooked up with or practice with his band?

He turned around and saw Riley down the hall, standing with some of his other friends. Riley was looking straight at him. Peter gave him a nervous smile, closed his locker, and walked in the direction of his class.

During class, Peter debated what he should do. If he didn't practice with his band, the guys would know something was up. If he didn't meet up with Riley, Riley would get royally pissed. Eventually he decided he could meet up with Riley and then just be late to band practice. The other guys had their own individual things to work on anyway.

After school, Peter went to his locker, and Mia stopped by again. He gave her the obligatory kiss and she took off for spirit squad practice. Mia was under the impression that Peter was going right to band practice. He felt bad about lying, which was funny because he used to do it all the time, but he had to under these circumstances.

He walked out the front door and saw Riley standing on the steps. Peter took a deep breath and walked toward him. "Hey, Riley."

Riley turned to look at him, and Peter felt himself instantly melt. And that was _weird_ for him. How had just kissing the guy made him all lovey-dovey? A few hours ago he hadn't been sure how he felt. Now he just wanted to look at Riley forever. And, well, do other stuff with him.

"We need to talk somewhere."

"The Dot?" Peter suggested. Immediately he realized how stupid that was. Everyone would be there and see them.

"I was thinking somewhere more... secluded."

Peter stared at him. Well, he got right to the point, didn't he? "The woods?"

They headed into the woods to an extremely secluded area, sitting down on a log together.

Riley began, looking away. "So yesterday was..."

"Yeah." Peter said, looking at the ground. He couldn't face Riley. He couldn't face talking about what had happened.

"But you're with Mia." Riley continued.

Finally, Peter had to look at him. "Yeah. I mean... yesterday, I wanted what happened to happen. But Mia and I.... I don't know, man. I don't know."

After a few seconds of silence, Riley said, "Peter..."

And then they were looking at each other, and all of those weird feelings (well, weird to Peter) came rushing back. Peter didn't know what to do except for what seemed natural, which was to lean forward, and kiss Riley. Riley kissed back with as much intensity as Peter, and Peter wasn't sure if he could ever stop doing this. God, he wasn't sure of anything anymore. The kissing was just too good. But then he started thinking about the sex part. Sex with a girl had been so natural to him. What about sex with Riley. Did_ that_ seem natural?

If not, why did his body react the way it did to Riley's touch?

A few minutes and two handjobs later, Peter and Riley stopped. Both were suddenly exhausted. Peter, for one, didn't know if he could even sing in his band after that.

Riley looked at Peter, kind of flushed. "So, who do you want to be with?"

_What_? "Dude, you can't ask me that now. I can barely even think."

"That's a good thing." Riley said, chuckling. He zipped up his jeans, and stood up. "How about when you figure it out, let me know."

Peter didn't say a word as Riley walked away. After a few minutes, Peter exited the woods as well. He walked into the school to where his bandmates where probably practicing without him. Sure enough, there were Danny, Sav, and Spinner, all doing their own thing. Peter opened the door and walked in.

"Where have you been?!" Sav exclaimed. "These guys refuse to do anything and you were supposed to show up like a half hour ago."

"Let's go practice at my place." Peter said simply. He needed a few more minutes to get himself together before he started practicing.

Plus there would be less of a chance of running into Mia afterward.


End file.
